Gold to Airy Thinness Beat

Chapter Thirty-Nine

"Did you really have to kneecap them?"

Bucky barely spared a glance from where he'd been staring fixedly ahead at the rows upon rows of trees they were crossing through. "No. I could have shot them in the head."

Carter sighed in exasperation before settling back in place next to him. She was wearing pants and quite enjoying the freedom of being able to move however she wanted without having to worry about what her skirt was doing.

Dum Dum was on Bucky's opposite side while Gabe and the other Commandos were ranged around him.

The rest of the men were out of sight somewhere well behind them.

Apparently, Bucky made them nervous.

After getting the information on the final facility he'd been ready to go at once, alone if need be. Carter had managed to convince him to wait for a force to be gathered while Bucky had gone and convinced Phillips that his girl's insistence on the need to return, in spite of her clearly recognizing she didn't belong, was proof Schmidt was planning something very big, and very soon.

Carter had given him a worried look when he'd emerged from Phillips' office but he'd rolled his eyes in return. Phillips wasn't his enemy and the man was a good enough leader to know when to listen to his men. Stephanie had grown to respect him and the man had earned Bucky's respect in turn.

Bucky had talked to him, as a leader and a friend, and the man had listened.

If he hadn't, Bucky would have simply gone on his own.

As it was, however, Phillips had pulled together a sizable force in a ridiculously short amount of time. That had then led to a ride in a plane, followed by travel in trucks and now, a march through the woods.

Phillips had led them personally.

Bucky had been out of the truck and gone before it had fully stopped, Carter and the Commandos barely catching up and, even then, only just keeping up.

He was trying to stay slow enough to not just leave them.

He was trying, but all he could see was the raging infection on his girl's shoulder, the fever in her eyes, and the desperate plea in her voice.

Help me. Please, Bucky.

She'd literally begged him for help. He'd never heard her beg, not when she was at her sickest, not when she was coughing so hard she sounded like she was choking and would curl into his chest, one hand clutching at his shirt. Every so often she'd lift her head to force a smile, trying to reassure him even in the midst of her own fear and suffering.

She'd never once begged, not for anything.

To hear her do it, to have her beg him when all she'd ever had to do was ask and he'd give her anything she wanted, to know Schmidt had pushed her to such a point...

It was all he could do not to break into a full out run.

Dum Dum held up a hand and Bucky stopped and dropped into a crouch behind a tree. Leaning forward with one hand braced on the ground, he peered around and felt his breath catch at the sight of a small clearing filled with military vehicles. Past it was a mountainside with a large door set in it. There were men in Hydra uniforms moving about and occasionally going through the door.

"The others will catch up soon," Dum Dum said, giving him a look. "We should wait."

Bucky nodded. "Fine." He wasn't dumb enough to rush in and get himself killed. Stephanie deserved better than that. "Try to watch for patterns," he instructed Carter and his men. "See if there are any routines we can take advantage of."